Communication system performance is negatively affected when messages are copied multiple times. It is particularly difficult to avoid copying messages when a network port supports multiple end-points with distinct memory systems.
Many communication systems deliver messages to ports and then the messages are copied from memory buffer to memory buffer as the upper layers of the protocol are analyzed and more details of the message destination are learned.
In a high-performance communication system such as Fibre Channel, it is important to avoid copying messages multiple times within the ports and end-points. Furthermore, present communications systems require that messages be delivered directly to more than one end-point behind a port, and the receiver is typically unable to determine the route selected for a particular message.